Nor'easter intensifies, downs trees, utility poles across region

WCVB

Tuesday

Mar 13, 2018 at 12:18 PMMar 13, 2018 at 12:21 PM

A nor'easter that could bring blizzard conditions and nearly 2 feet of snow to some areas of New England quickly intensified Tuesday morning, covering highways with snow and knocking out power to tens of thousands, according to news partner WCVB.

The National Weather Service issued a blizzard warning for the entire coast of Maine, New Hampshire and most of Massachusetts. The rest of New England was under a winter storm warning, and a winter weather advisory blanketed most of New York and portions of New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and North Carolina.

Wind gusts of nearly 70 mph were reported on Cape Cod in the early stages of the storm.

Although the latest storm was not expected to bring as many power outages as a nor'easter last week because the snow is lighter and fluffier, more than 30,000 customers in Massachusetts lost power Tuesday morning.

Compared to last week's storms, which knocked out power to most of Hamilton and Wenham for several days, only a handful of homes are without power as of midday today.

Hamilton and Wenham's schools and respective town halls were closed Tuesday and trash collection was delayed a day.

The Hamilton Senior center will be open until 9 p.m. tonight for anyone without power to charge their devices and stay warm.

Communities across the region closed schools for the day and issued on-street parking bans.

The Boston-area public transit system operated on a limited weekday basis. Usually-packed subway trains were nearly empty as many workers stayed home.

Joe Rotella ducked into a train station as he tried to find his way to a hotel that's hosting a convention where he's speaking. Organizers were scrambling to find ways to video conference in speakers whose planes were delayed or canceled, said Rotella, chief medical officer with the American Academy of Hospice and Palliative Medicine.

"As a visitor to Boston, I've been looking forward to this for months and this is kind of an adventure for me," the Louisville, Kentucky, man said. "I didn't have to go through the last two nor'easters so this still feels like fun."

The storm was expected to last through most of Tuesday, disrupting road and air travel.

The flight-tracking site FlightAware reported more than 1,300 canceled flights within, into or out of the U.S. on Tuesday. Amtrak suspended service from Boston to New York's Penn Station until almost midday.

The blizzard warning means sustained winds of greater than 35 mph (56 kph), along with visibility of less than a quarter mile for prolonged periods, according to the weather service.

Boston and eastern Massachusetts, as well as Rhode Island, could get a foot and a half of snow, with less to the west of the city.